Pity the McCanns, frozen in unending despair

MADELEINE McCAnn disappeared ten years ago this week.

Who could have imagined that a decade on from the fateful night, police forces from two countries and investigators from around the world would still be no farther forward in discovering what happened to the little girl, who was almost four years old. no one has a clue. Literally.

Gerry and kate McCann gave a television interview this week.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about them is that they are still together, that their marriage did not crack under the strain.

However, while his career as a specialist heart surgeon has flourished, her life in particular has seemed frozen.

She stopped practising as a GP, she had no more children, she subsumed herself in their twins, now aged 12, and the search for her daughter.

You don’t have to look hard to see the effect the tragedy has had. Both of them look hard-fired and brittle — glazed in some kiln of despair.

The level of odium still heaped on them by many members of the public is shocking — and I don’t suppose this week’s Panorama on Wednesday helped.

BBC reporter richard Bilton revealed that, back in Praia da Luz ten years ago, supporters of the McCanns had asked him to act as a spy regarding the movements of one-time suspect robert Murat, who was subsequently cleared of any involvement in the disappearance. ‘I declined,’ he said, clearly quite pleased with his own contribution to this sorry tale.

Far worse than this smuggery was his harassing of locals and questioning of former Ocean Club employees — based on absolutely no evidence — including one man who clearly had mental health problems.

‘Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?’ he would cry, waving his boom mic in their direction.

It was utterly shameful.